Circus acts

>> Spring theatre heats up with the return of Cirque du Soleil and other treats

by AMY BARRATT

Winter must really be over, because the circus is back in town. Varekai, the Cirque du Soleil’s latest feast for the senses, opens this week (Thursday, April 25) under a bigtop at the Old Port.

Some people think the Cirque has spread itself too thin in recent years, to the detriment of its product. At last count this made-in-Montreal phenomenon had four shows touring the four points of the earth in addition to the two permanently installed in Vegas and another in Disney World.

The question is, are there enough top-quality rope climbers and pyramid-bounders out there to sustain all that action, or do you have to resort to second-stringers? The Cirque tries to stay on top of this challenge by constantly training new acrobats, many of them former street kids from the slums of the world.

Varekai purportedly depicts a world where “anything is possible.” So far so good: the Cirque is at its best when it lifts us out of our seats to dream the impossible. The first Cirque show I ever saw, Alegria, was like that. The last one, Dralion, was more like a series of stunts with no unifying concept.

A promising aspect of this 14th production is the presence of theatre director Dominic Champagne, who is known for very visual, very physical stage adaptations like Don Quixote and L’Odysée (both for TNM). Hopefully he will be able to ensure some kind of dramatic tension in this latest Cirque piece. Varekai runs Wednesdays through Sundays to June 2. 790-1245.

Mimes, hobbits and dwarves

There are a lot of less pricey tickets to be had around town this weekend too. Those wacky Gravy Bathers are back in town after a sojourn in Hudson. Along with Step Dans Fuego Productions, they are presenting a double bill of short, serious plays at the Balustrade space of the Monument National. The Waste is an adaptation of T.S. Eliot’s The Wasteland, by Anthony Kokx. Gravy Bath’s artistic director, Matthew Tiffin (alias Madd Harold) will act in it. Direction is by Frederick Ward. The second show on the bill is Voices, written by poet Endre Farkas and directed by Liz Valdez. April 25–27, and May 1–4, 8 p.m. 871-2224.
A new young company with strong Concordia connections, Renegade Productions, is presenting two short plays starting April 26 at Studio 303. The curtain-raiser, Nosophoros, by Renegade co-founder Manuel Verreydt, is a mime piece that attempts to “successfully blend the theatrical style of mime with the cinematic atmosphere of the 1920s silent movies.” Another original text by a company member, American Lullaby, about the exploitation of a Filipino woman who comes to Canada as a nanny, has unfortunately been removed from the bill. The main attraction is Daniel MacIvor’s Never Swim Alone. April 25–28, and May 3–5. 285-2702.

Finally, something for the kids: Geordie Productions’ last offering of the season is a version of Tolkien’s The Hobbit. Adapted for the stage and directed by Kim Selody, it is the classic tale of the furry-footed Bilbo Baggins, who rather reluctantly sets out with a bunch of dwarves in search of gold and adventure. April 26, 7 p.m., weekend matinée performances to May 5, at D.B. Clarke Theatre. 845-1955. :